PROJECT INFORMATION
Platform: Windows.
Role: Level Designer.
Engine: Far Cry Arcade Editor.
Team Size: 1
Time: 5 weeks
LEVEL GALLERY
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LEVEL OVERVIEW
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Early sketches
I made very rough early sketches to give myself a direction in terms of the layout and relative scale of the area. I did not put a lot of time into these sketches as this was just to give myself a start. I hop into the editor after this and start blocking out the level.
Moodboard
A mood board was put together to identify and highlight shape language that could support the gameplay but also accommodate the atmosphere of the game. The mood board was used as a reference throughout the development of the map.
CORE-PILLARS
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Story
The soleanna island once belonged to a production company. This island was then taken over by Joseph Seed's radical cult. The cult has killed most of the workers present on the island and has taken hostage a few of them. Your objective is to kill all the cultists and liberate the island.
Having a story guided a lot of my design decisions on the level and also helped me in cementing the overall feel of the level.
Gameplay pillars
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Stealth
Stealth is the most preferred gameplay style for this level, at least until the player has taken down all the alarms of the outpost. This is because the alarms cause reinforcements to come and that makes the level even harder. I made sure that the player can move around unnoticed and was presented with multiple opportunities to take down the enemies in different ways. Given the size of the map, the player might be more inclined toward using stealth weapons i.e. weapons that are silent and can kill enemies from a distance instead of going close to each enemy and taking them out.
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Aggressive/Guns out
An aggressive playthrough is also possible but is quite hard. As this outpost is larger than a normal outpost map, it becomes harder as there are more enemies looking for the player. Usually, it is easier to switch to an aggressive style after the alarms are down as there is no danger of reinforcements being called. I made sure that the player’s arsenal and traversal mechanics had options to support this playstyle.
Affordances:
This is a method of communicating to the players, where they can go and with what objects they can interact. I made sure the affordances were clear to the player and met their expectations. Far Cry 5 uses blue color to mark objects that the player can use to traverse from one place to the other. The game teaches these affordances to the player by being consistent throughout.
I also made sure the objects that looked interactable functioned the same way as expected by the player. They can climb ladders and ride vehicles in the level.
Movement:
As the size of this outpost map was bigger than usual, I knew it was essential to provide the player with different modes of transport to move around and explore. Adding different types of vehicles greatly improved the mobility and the options the player had to move from one point to the other. This ensured faster movement and avoided the frustration of having to move around on foot. This made exploration fun for the players, which was one of the goals.
Including different modes of traversal also helped in preventing backtracking and could be suitable for different gameplay styles. I wanted the players to have these options while they’re moving around.
Landmark:
I added local landmarks for the player to remember areas and form a mental map of the place. This helped the player to navigate the area easily and strategize better in taking out the enemies. The player is able to orient themselves and understand the space better
Environmental storytelling:
I tried to communicate the story of the island to the player through the environment. These are scattered around the area in a manner that the player will encounter at least some of them.
Verticality/Vantage points:
Adding verticality makes a level more interesting. I wanted to make sure that the level had enough verticality to support creative gameplay options. I made sure to add vantage points that can be beneficial for the enemies and/or the player. I wanted the players to spot these vantage points from a distance. This provided them with more options to work with and strategize around.
Placement of Alarms:
The placement of the three alarms in the level was really important.
The following factors were taken into consideration:
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Distance from each other: I aimed at spreading out the alarms to make avoid them being closer to each other.
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Covers important POIs in the area: It was essential to make the player move around the entire island and kill enemies that are spread out. Having alarms spread out around POIs acted as one of the motivations for the player to do so.
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Heavily guarded: I made sure that the alarm sites are heavily guarded as compared to other places, as I wanted the player to carefully strategize around how they wanted to take them out.
ZONES
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I divided the island into three different zones:
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Green:
This zone is the approach zone. This area does not have a direct challenge to the player. This zone helps the player to get familiar with the area and understand the space. The player can collect information about the island and weigh their options in terms of what approach they want to take.
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Yellow:
This is the infiltration and encounter zone. Here, the player tries to infiltrate the area and take out enemies along the way. The frequency of encounters depends on the player’s gameplay style and approach.
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Red:
This is the danger zone. This is the most exposed zone. It is open from multiple angles. If the player gets detected in this zone, it’ll end up badly for them.
ENEMY AI
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It was important to think from the enemy’s perspective as well while designing the level. Thinking about the enemy’s motivations, and why they are where they are, was something I paid close attention to. I placed the enemies around the level with this thought in mind.
Different enemy setups:
Defending enemies
These enemies were assigned to a specific area. The player is expected to study their movement pattern and find a window of opportunity to strategize and avoid/take out the enemy.
Reinforcements
Some enemies were hidden and not spawned during the normal gameplay of the level. These enemies spawn once the alarm goes off. This adds more pressure on the player and makes it more challenging.
Enemy states:
The enemy has different states that they can jump to depending on the situation. The states are:
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Normal: This is the by default state of the enemies. They continue to stay in this state until the player’s presence is detected by them.
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Alerted: This is the state where the enemy has noticed the player’s presence but hasn’t completed detected them. The enemies become more cautious. Few of the defending enemies change their state to patrolling enemies. They move around using vehicles and start hunting for the player around the island.
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Attacking: This is the state where they start shooting at the player. Furthermore, reinforcements are called if all the alarms aren’t taken down.
Playtest & Iteration:
I playtested with a few of my friends and a few people on the Far Cry Arcade discord. A large change was made after common feedback from the players. Few of the changes I did were:
First Level Draft
Current Level Layout
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The different structures in the area were very spread out, especially the main helipad area with one of the alarms. It took a lot of time for the players to move around. It did not feel like a single outpost level.
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As the main objective of the level is to kill all the enemies, it was very important to make sure that the player comes across the enemies naturally. There were times that there would be 1–2 enemies remaining and the player was unable to find them. This was indirectly related to the first problem to some extent. I made sure that the POIs were close and the enemies were stationed in a way that the players would come across them naturally. The enemies weren't wandering everywhere on the island but were around the structures.
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The players that chose to go for the aggressive gameplay with guns blazing, were having a hard time completing the challenge. The intention was to make the level harder for this gameplay style but not impossible. Multiple playtests suggested that the enemy count after the reinforcements are called increases significantly to a point that it becomes unplayable. For this, I made sure that the enemy count increase feels fair, and also, the type of enemies that are in the level are well distributed.
Reflection:
I had a lot of fun making this level. I learned a lot about different level design principles and met new people through playtesting. In the process, I watched various design videos and read articles that focused on non-linear level design. This gave me a lot of different perspectives and insights regarding the level design process. As a result, I was able to adapt those to my own process and put everything together with this level.
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Thanks for reading!
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